Chapter 17 (Original edit)

Chapter XVII

The trip to Dead Key was quick and unexceptional. Matthias had not exaggerated when he had called his brother's ship `a fine little vessel.' She was indeed that, a sleek little craft much like that of the smuggler from Rendor who had brought the quartet to Barabel. The island itself was anything but fine. Small and barren, the island showed no sign of anything alive as far as the eye could see anywhere in its environs. Even the water of the lagoon where they anchored took on a lifeless, dreary tinge in the area where it abutted the island. The sand itself was rent with tremendous outcroppings of black rock and great fissures which belched fetid steam and foul, sulphurous smoke that left the island looking as if it had been coated by some mad god with a patina of foul, wet ash.

In the center of the tiny, lifeless accumulation of sand and stone, was a single tower made of white stone with wide openings all around its zenith. It looked as if it was some sort of lighthouse intended to warn ships away from the shallows near the key. Upon reflection, it seemed strange to Enki that such an edifice would exist on Dead Key. No one lived there. It wasn't near any other inhabited islands and there was no sign that the island lay anywhere near the shipping lanes. There was no reason to place a lighthouse in so insignificant and isolated a location.

"If that is the case, then that lighthouse must be the next leg on our journey. If the Sword of Might is anywhere around here, it will be there that we find it," Enki reflected. "I'd better get the others together and we can go in and investigate."

"Matthias, do you know anything about that tower on the island there?" Seeing her newly acquired retainer shake his head, Enki continued, "It would seem then that we have found something worth investigating. Shall we go ashore?"

The other travelers from Seremoreh nodded their agreement, but Matthias seemed to become rather nervous and agitated about the prospect. When Enki asked his what was troubling him, their "expediter" shuddered and said, "Your ladyship, I know that you are paying me to act as your guide, but I really would rather not go over there to the islet. It is a place that mothers hereabouts use as a sort of threat to children when they misbehave, and while I know I am being foolish, I would count it as a great favor if you would let me remain here until to you return. I don't believe I could be of much service to you if there is a monster to be fought over there and I probably would end up getting in you way. And to be honest, I would really rather not meet the Child of Night if it really exists...." The rogue looked at Enki beseechingly.

The warrior sighed and shook her head. "Alright, you can stay. We didn't hire you to fight our battles, and since you have never set foot on Dead Key, you won't be of much value as a guide. I think we can handle whatever we come across in that tower on our own and, if we can not, there is little that you could do to change that. Stay here. Do not leave for any reason. Should we fail to return in a five-day, then you may go. Should that condition become reality, do not tell anyone of our excursion or it will be the worse for you."

The warrior looked over at her companions and said, "Well then, should we be about it? You there," Enki called to one of the members of the disreputable-looking crew of Matthias' brother's vessel, "lower a boat so that we might be about our business."

The trip into shore went smoothly. The water was dead calm, not even a ripple disturbed the gray, glass-like surface of the lagoon. Nothing disturbed the peace under the water's surface either. Not a fish, not a crustacean, not a mollusk, not even a shoot of seaweed was visible in the translucent water. There were ships aplenty littering the dull grey sands of the cove's bottom. Literally dozens of vessels had found their final resting place here. Or rather the skeletons of ships. It was no wonder that the place had acquired the name Dead Key. For not only were the carcasses of all sorts of sailing craft cluttering the lagoon floor, but the remnants of their crew rested with them.

"What could have brought so many ships here to die," Enki murmured half to herself. "I wish Matthias was here so he could tell us more about this Dead Cove. Nothing in what Matthias said about the Child of Night and the legend which surrounds him explains this. Does this mean that some other danger lurks here in this gods-forsaken place, or are these the remnants of others such as us who followed the trail of the legend of the guardian and the weapon it guards?"

"Don't know about that, lass," replied Wolf softly. "I expect that we'll find out the answers once we go over there to that white tower and take a look at it. If it is a lighthouse, perhaps it lured the ships here during storms or some such. But regardless of the Child of Night or other mysteries which we have yet to puzzle out, there are some dangers here which we can count on: heat, poisonous vapors, and the like. This island is a dragonmount. I've only seen them ere this in the mountains of Seremoreh, but the signs are unmistakable. Those smoke and steam vents are very rare anywhere else and with the lack of any signs of life here, I'd being willing to wager that their effluvium is laced well with foul gases which kill anything that comes near. I suspect that such toxic fumes are responsible for at least some of the derelicts which see all about us. So we might want to refrain from spending too much time hereabouts. Oh, and if the whole place starts shaking or you hear a deep rumbling, you might try to run....although that might be somewhat pointless since there really isn't anywhere to run."

Trudging through the dank soot which covered the island, the quartet of adventures soon arrived at the only object of interest which defaced its otherwise dreary, natural surface. The tower was unusual but unspectacular. It wasn't particularly tall and the stone seemed perfectly normal. Strangely, no apparent entrance interrupted the smooth regularity of the surface. It was also odd that there wasn't any sign that the fiery nature of the island had had even the slightest deleterious effect upon the structure. Enki drew her dagger and scratched the building's surface. The stone scored readily enough, so it wasn't some enchanted, impervious substance which resisted all attempts to chip its surface.

It seemed to Enki that that suggested that the tower was relatively new. But why no door? Why would someone want to build a structure that no one could enter? Perhaps because whatever was inside the building was too dangerous to allow to escape. While that seemed to make some sense, it didn't explain why the huge openings at the top of the tower existed. It wasn't so tall that no one could leave by leaping if the were forced to. Perhaps many would suffer injury in the attempt, but Enki thought that she herself could vault from the top of the lighthouse or prison or whatever this building was and land unscathed. The first problem was to get in though, and, while if worst came to worst they could use climbing equipment to scale the walls, Enki wasn't willing to concede that the constructors of the place hadn't secreted some means of ingress to its environs.

"I can't see anything here! Can any of the rest of you see any way to get in?" called Enki. "What about you, Neun Ja? This is your area of expertise, do you see any sign of door on this blasted tower?"

"At present I do not discern any trace of a means of entering the structure which we see before us, honorable warrior," the shadow mage replied. "I believe I can detect the presence of any such that are within our reach, however. If you will allow me a moment to ready a certain spell, I will ascertain whether or not a door is present."

The raven-tressed sorceress reached in a pouch which she had attached to belt, both of which were a dull black which blended almost indistinguishably with the rest of her garb to create a nearly solid facade. From it, she extracted a dark powder which she spread quickly in the air with a wave of her hand. The powder seemed to run and flow as floated to the ground where it merged with Neun Ja's shadow and made it seem almost as if it were an inky fluid which flowed over the land before her. When the sorceress stepped toward the tower, her shadow seemed to flow up the wall seeking some sort of purchase for itself.

"Now," Neun Ja explained to her somewhat mystified comrades, "honorable friends, I will walk around the tower. If, as I pass my shadow touches an opening of any sort, concealed or even magically hidden, it should cling to the edges of that portal, outlining it for all to see when I move on. Once we have located such a doorway, it should hopefully be possible then to find a means of activating it that so we may inspect the interior of yon spire."

Neun Ja began to stride widdershins around the lighthouse. As she moved her shadow seemed to drip and swirl as it passed over the tower surface, almost as if it was searching this way and that for some sort of clever means of concealment by peering from all angles at every inch of the wall. Neun Ja had started with sun streaming down on her back as she faced the wall, as she walked and the sun shifted angles with respect to her, she shifted too, so that she was always facing the tower directly. The bizarre shadow she cast never changed. Though a natural shadow would have changed angles with the changing direction of the sun, Neun Ja's strangely augmented silhouette remained her mirror image as it slid across the stone. When she reached the line where one side of the tower protected the other from the probing rays of the sun, and the beneficiary fell into shadow, Neun Ja continued to turn and face the tower. Her shadow moved with her. The lack of light did not seem to even slightly diminish the sorceress' strange shadow. It continued its oily march across the tower as if Neun Ja was still backlit by the bright sun.

As the saffron-skinned mage reentered the light near where Enki stood, a bit of Neun Ja's shadow seemed to break off and flow strangely around the wall to limn some sort of an arch. Enki walked over to mark the spot, not sure how long the effect of Neun Ja's spell would last.

The sorceress was soon finished with her circuit around the tower. As she reached the place where she had started around the base of the spire, Neun Ja waved her hand and her shadow resumed its normal complexion. She called, "Can any of you, my most honorable colleagues, note any sign of a portal?"

"Over here," shouted Enki. "There is some sort of vault outlined in black on the tower wall over here!"

"And here," bellowed Wolf from the other side of the tower. "I can make out the outlines of some sort of doorway in the sand."

Neun Ja nodded, "Good, now I must discern what means there is of opening these portals. First, I think, the entry into the tower must be investigated. The doorway in the sand may be the path to what we seek here, but it leads to the great unknown, whereas the opening in the side of the tower leads to an area that we can see is limited in its scope and thus more easily investigated. Do you concur, honorable warrior?"

At Enki's nod of agreement, the shadow mage walked over to the portal by which the warrior maid stood. Neun Ja began to run her fingers along the seams that her magic had uncovered. Her fingers slowly slid along the length and breadth of the black lines which limned the door. Apparently, satisfied with what she found there, the sorceress continued her probe of the mysteries of the tower entry by passing her hands over the door itself as she had over its edges. Stopping at place high in the center of the door, Neun Ja began to probe as if there was some sort of mechanism located in that spot.

There was a strange clicking noise and the veil which had hidden the door fell away so that the entire quartet could clearly make out the door. There was no visible handle with which to grasp and open the portal. In fact, the only sign beyond the now visible edges of the door that it was indeed any different than the rest of the tower wall was a series of runes which began at one end of the arch which topped the door and finished at the vault's other end.

"These runes are in a language of which I do not have knowledge, honorable friends," said Neun Ja without cheer. "Do any of you ken their meaning?

Enki shook her head, "I have never seen their like before. Ordolf," the warrior called, "Could you come over here and see if you recognize the script Neun Ja has uncovered?"

The archmage nodded and walked over to where his two female colleagues stood and gazed at the writing which now decorated the wall over the arch. "Remarkable, the language is one which I had not thought to see in such a desolate place, and certainly not on what appears to be new construction. It is the secret tongue of the ancient mages of the Boranean Empire which once dominated the land we now call the Spice Coast. It fell nearly a millennium ago during the War of the Blight and the last of the wizards who had given it their allegiance have been dead for nearly as long. I cannot understand how such a script could exist on a tower such as this one. Either the tower is far older and more resilient than it appears or there is a mage somewhere around here who still serves Boranea. At any rate, the legend above the door reads: `Seek ye not the key in the tower, for it opens a door best left closed. Listen now all you who come arrogant in your power, turn away while your life's blood still flows.' Then follows a rune which if spoken aloud will open the door."

"We have come too far to turn back at this juncture, can you decipher the last rune," Enki asked.

"Aye, I can, if we are all agreed. But just because we agreed that this is the most likely path doesn't mean it is the correct one. Perhaps we should ascertain a little more about the other door before we continue...." Seeing no objections from the others, Ordolf led the others over to the doorway in the sand which had been spotted by Wolf.

Neun Ja began to treat the second door as she had its counterpart in the tower wall. As she ran her hand over the outlines of the door, their was a abrupt soundless explosion which whelmed the sorceress and sent her stunned body tumbling until it came to a rest ten feet away.

"NONE MAY PASS WITHOUT THE KEY OF TOWER," announced a vibrant yet somehow hollow voice.

Neun Ja sat up with a groan at the end of the strange pronouncement.

"Are you alright?" asked Wolf who had rushed over to her fallen body.

The sorceress nodded and said, "There is no handle on this side of this door. I found a lock of some kind, but it was when I investigated the keyhole that I was struck down. I do not think that we can pass this portal without the key that it requires. There may be another door elsewhere, but this one is currently impassable. Perhaps, my friends, we should seek the key in the tower that the legend on the wall mentions for I believe it might prove far less deleterious to my overall well-being."

Enki smiled and nodded, "It seems the most likely course. Let us return to the tower door Ordolf, and then if you would please, read the last rune and let us enter the spire."

The mage nodded and walked back to the first doorway that they had discovered. "Chornyi smert," said the necromancer.

The door swung out noiselessly from the wall of the tower and nearly struck Ordolf before he nimbly jumped back. The interior was as black as a demon's heart. The light of day didn't seem any more able to penetrate the stygian darkness than oil penetrates water. The quartet of adventurers looked at one another irresolutely as if the were unsure that they really wanted to enter now that the way was open to them.

Gathering her courage and her wits once more about her, Enki turned to the two mages at her sides and murmured softly, "If one of you can provide some light, we may as well be about our business."

Before Enki had even finished stating her request, two pale balls of light sprang into being before Ordolf and Neun Ja. The shadow mage took the lead and the initiative and stepped into the depths of the tower. The blackness nearly swallowed her and her light as she entered, but it could not fully absorb the witchlight that she had created. Wolf followed on the sorceress' heels, then Enki swallowed and stepped forward as well, finally came Ordolf with the second of the balls of mage light.

The door swung shut behind the quartet of adventurers after Ordolf had entered. The light from the mage lights that Ordolf and Neun Ja had conjured, though dimmer than it should have been, was sufficient to light the inside of the tower well enough so that objects could at least be discerned. As the four seekers looked around, the saw that the interior of the tower was empty except for a narrow stairwell that led up. Hesitantly, Neun Ja began to ascend. The others climbed in her wake. The dark silence seemed somehow to grow more and more ominous and oppressive with each step that the quartet took. Nothing moved or made a noise, yet somehow a feeling of impending doom seemed to seep into the very hearts of the heroes. It became more and more difficult to gather the courage to mount the stairs.

As the strong sense of dread became more and more pervasive, Enki became less and less sure that she and her comrades had made the right choice, when she heard Ordolf mutter something behind her. There was a crackling hiss as if water had been thrown into a fire, and suddenly the weight of the building terror lifted as if it had never been.

"I have always disliked those spells of anxiety," the archmage muttered. "They don't seem sporting. Now, it should be a bit easier to continue."

When the quartet reached the head of the narrow stairwell, they encountered another door. Like the portal which led outside, there was no apparent means of opening the door. No handle broke the monotony of its surface. No keyhole manifested itself. But like the door in the outside wall of the edifice, there were runes over the door. These, however, were not hidden. They glowed with light of their own and provided Enki and her colleagues with a second warning, "You who read this have failed to heed my first caution. Here is a second: Powerful and magically potent, you stand where you are. Know this, your magic, though mighty, is a falling star. It shall fail you at your direst need as your death approaches on a winged steed."

When Ordolf had finished reading the proclamation of the tower for his colleagues, he continued, "There is another rune of opening. Shall I speak it aloud?"

Enki looked around at her colleagues for a consensus once more and nodded their silent assent to the archmage.

"Volshebstvaia ubitsa," intoned the mage.

Like the lower door, the entry at the head of the stairs swung wide at the archmage's utterance. This time though, the room beyond was lit by the light of the sun streaming through the huge openings that the party had seen on the top the tower from the sea. In the center of the room stood a carved marble pedestal which was surmounted by a black velvet cushion. On top of the cushion rested a small golden skeleton key which gleamed in the bright sunlight. Another item shone brilliantly from the rays of the sun: the burnished bronze statue of a enormous human warrior which stood next to the pedestal.

Neun Ja began to cautiously examine the door frame for traps. She probably should have done the same at the entry to the tower, but somehow it had seemed unnecessary and she always trusted her cha li-honed instincts in such matters. Seeing no impediments to continuing,entered the room. As she stepped beneath the lintel, two things occurred. First, the witch light which she had conjured, blinked out as if it had never been. Next, the sculpture seemed to subtly change.

Abruptly the martial figure's eyes opened and it stared straight at Neun Ja and spoke, "Leave this place," it said in ringing, sepulchral tones, "or die!" When it had finished, the strange golem began to more forward. Slowly at first, as if it had been motionless for too long, then with growing certainty, it raised its sword and shield into position for battle.

Neun Ja waved her hand at the monstrous figurine. Nothing happened. A look of surprise and consternation crossed the face of the sorceress. Clearly reality had not met with her expectations. Neun Ja looked at the advancing metal warrior and realized that if she didn't do something quickly she would be chopped into cat's meat. Deciding that her wisest choice lay in flight since her blades were still in their scabbards and her allies still hadn't entered the chamber, Neun Ja stepped back through the doorway. The bronze man instantly became inert once more.

The sorceress looked at he others, "What course of action shall we partake of now, most honored comrades. We seem to have encountered a rather formidable obstacle."

Enki scowled at the automaton that waited patiently inside the room as inert as when they first seen it. "What is it," she asked, "and what happened in there?"

"I believe that it is something that is often referred to as a golem or mechanical man," replied Neun Ja. "Perhaps the honorable Ordolf can confirm that. At any rate, the answer to your second question is one which I find disturbing. I attempted to slip into the shadows and my magic failed me. Such a thing has never happened to me before. I have failed to use my magic properly, yes. I have also found situations where no magic that I knew was of use. But never before have I ever tried to reach for my magic and found it sundered from me as if it had never been. Fortunately, I was able to retreat ere I had to face our friend in there without either spell or blade prepared."

Ordolf was nodding, "Indeed, it does appear to be a golem. If that is the case, fear not that your skills are transient, Neun Ja. Your magic's disappearance is an effect of the automaton in there. As part of the enchantment that energizes them, when moving, they generate a dampening field which sucks the mana out of their surrounding environs to power their actions. No magic works in their presence."

"I take it, then, that you can not kill it by magic from here," said Enki with a question in her voice. "Is it mortal? Can we slay it? Does it have any weaknesses or particular strengths. What are the dangers of confronting it? Do you know, Ordolf?"

"I have never encountered one personally, but according to the lore there are several things one should know about a golem," the mage replied. "First, they are devices created by a combination of alchemy and sorcery for a single purpose. That purpose is determined by the creator of the automaton and can be whatever he or she desires. Once set, however, the golem's purpose can not be changed and it will continue to strive toward that purpose until either the golem is destroyed or its reason for being no longer exists."

"Second, a golem can only act in fulfillment of its purpose. No other actions are possible, so the caster must be very careful and complete in the instructions which are given to the golem. Most casters choose either very complex sets of instructions that detail every conceivable situation that could arise or very simple ones like "kill anyone who enters this room" that ensure that the golem will treat all intruders in the same fashion. Both of these schemes leave open the possibility that a clever interloper can find away to evade the strictures that the golem represents."

"Third, golems can be slain, but they are extremely durable foes as their metallic nature might suggest. They wear their own suits of armor and they also have access to mana which repairs them as they are damaged. Blunt weapons tend to be more effective against these creations because dents do not trigger the repair mechanisms. Their metallic nature makes golems very slow, however, so very quick foes at least stand a reasonable chance of survival against them."

"That is, I believe, all I can tell you about golems, other than that they are much feared by the Society of Mages and that there is a reward for their destruction. So should you destroy this thing, you will be entitled to the bounty which is placed on its head. I can be of very little assistance. My spells will not affect it and, as you know, I have little skill with weapons."

His exposition finished, Ordolf lapsed into silence. His three companions looked at one another with consternation. They were faced with a foe which was not only dangerous, but which took away at nearly half of their strength by its very nature. Ordolf was neutralized and Neun Ja could not rely on her magical skills. For her, it was like fighting with blind or with an arm removed: possible but very different from what she knew. Worse still, their foe was very nearly indestructible. Still, if they were to continue on, the quartet had to face the golem that protected the key in the tower. They could, of course, turn back and wait for their comrades to return from the Isle of Mists and then enlist their aid. Or they could seek to find another entry to whatever lay beyond the doorway in the sand.

None of their options seemed particularly appealing. It seemed unlikely that there was another easily located entry to whatever lay beneath the surface of the island. While Derazha and Urki would add to their armed strength, there was little enough room for the three warriors that were already on Dead Key to fight their metallic foe. Reinforcements would only be of use if one of them fell and should that come to pass, Seremoreh would have little hope of defeating Iskandar anyway.

It seemed that facing the golem was their best choice, despite the obviously serious threat which it posed. Enki drew her falchion. Wolf unhitched his hammer. Neun Ja drew two long-knives from her harness. The warrior stepped wordlessly through the door and moved quickly to the right so her blade would not interfere with those of her comrades. Wolf followed and moved to the left, knowing that, with his normal grip in which he held his left hand high on the haft of his war hammer and his right at its base, this was the side from which he could most effectively operate. Neun held the center with her paired knives.

As soon as Enki had crossed over the threshold, the huge golem began to stir once more to life. Its implacable eyes stared emotionlessly at the trio as it slowly raised its sword and shield into position for battle and repeated its warning once more. It strode forward slowly like an avalanche beginning to build to dispose of the intruders into its domain.

Wolf blurred into action with a speed that was hard to credit in such a squat man. Striding forward with his right foot, the woodsman slid his left hand down the haft of his hammer and whipped its head toward the knee of their mechanical foe. The golem jerked its sword down to cover with astonishing speed, but the blade was not stout enough to fully turn the hammer's hurtling head. The blow glancingly struck home. The battle was joined, and first blood, or at least the first strike, belonged to the living.

Though they could count the first blow theirs, Enki and her comrades knew the battle was far from over. Wolf quickly slid his hand back up the helve of his hammer as he spun to his left and began to circle the foe as blackly muttered something not completely audible that began with the word damn and ended with the word slow. The two women had assumed similar stances and circled clockwise around the automaton as well.

All battles have their own characters, much as all people have theirs. This one quickly began to exhibit its unique nature. Occasionally, one or another of the adventurers would feint or try a quick offensive thrust as they circled probing for an opening. The adventurers did little damage but took no harm in return beyond the expenditure of energy. It was much like a pack of hounds harrying a cornered predator: lunging and nipping and trying desperately to avoid its rushes. The problem with such a scenario for the Seremorans was that in such a situation, though the outcome is certain if there are enough hounds, it is just as certain that some hounds will die and others be badly maimed. Eventually one would tire or make a misstep. It was only a matter of time.

Realizing their plight and judging that they could neither afford the losses, nor was it certain that they had enough `hounds' for the task, Enki decided to change the odds a little. "We must work together more fully than we are! While we are doing well enough now, one of us is bound to make a mistake or tire. We are human, it is not. It will win a battle of attrition. We must focus our attacks and cripple its ability to do us harm. Endeavor to strike its sword with your blows. If we can neutralize it, the better part of the automaton's offense will vanish. It will still have its strength, but without the edge. Wolf, you try to pound the blade askew. Your hammer does damage it will not repair. Neun Ja and I will try to keep its attention."

Darting in, Enki slashed at the golem's left foot and drew a parry from it. Neun Ja leapt in from the rear keeping it distracted split seconds before Wolf's hammer whelmed into the mechanical giant's sword elbow ere it could turn to meet his blow. All three were able to leap back out ere the automaton could counter. So the combat entered a new stage in its development, a more dangerous and decisive phase in which both risk and reward had grown.

Fast and furiously, the women whirled in and out, their weapons flashing in an exotic dance of death but doing little harm that wasn't immediately repaired by the golem's regenerative powers. And though they were skillful, the two heroines were not skillful enough to completely avoid the `caresses' of their alien dance partner. First, Neun Ja, then Enki felt the stinging bite of its blade. Enki, then Neun Ja, suffered the ungentle `nuzzle' of its brazen shield.

Though treated in a less than chivalrous fashion, the two decoys accomplished their purpose. Their dance partner's persistent, ungentlemanly attempts to do them ill, allowed their comrade to powerfully strike the golem over and over on its sword arm. Soon, the danger to Wolf's colleagues began to decrease as the automaton's right arm began to warp and deform. First, a blow from Wolf's hammer slammed into the golem's wrist and turned its sword to an odd, awkward angle. Moments later, Wolf struck again, this time once again near the mechanical man's elbow bending the whole arm even further outward. Another blow from above drove the arm downward at angle. Another and another, and the arm was bent so badly that it looked as warped as a contortionist working in a libertine's palace.

The golem silently continued to struggle, trying to whelm the adventurer's with its shield. It was too slow and ungainly for its efforts to meet with much success, however. The trio of adventurers easily evaded its futile swings. Neun Ja, realizing that their opponent was offenseless, darted in and grabbed the key. The mechanical man froze suddenly. The other two human combatants, seeing their foe's unanticipated immobilization, were at first wary that it was some sort of trick. After a moment, they, too, also disengaged, fearful that if they continued to pummel the golem, it might cause the automaton to somehow reactivate.

"I have the key!" the sorceress called. "I beg of you, honorable comrades, let us depart before the guardian revivifies!" So saying, the saffron-skinned shadow mage stepped out of the room with the key in her grasp. As she did so, the voice that the quartet had heard briefly a few moments before issuing from the door in the stand spoke once more in its hollow tones, "You have succeeded where others have failed. You may have the skills necessary to face the final guardian. Know this though you are mighty in battle and powerful in you magic, even these will do you little good in your final test. Turn back! Heed me and turn back ere you meet the dark man under the sands of death!"

As the final word of the strange pronouncement of doom was uttered, the golem made a strange noise almost like the sounding of a bell, and crumbled into dust at the feet of the two remaining adventurers. There was little left of their brazen foe, except a small red ruby which glittered atop the pile of metallic powder that gleamed dully in the sunlight which streamed through the windows of the tower's garret.

Ordolf, entering the room for the first time, reached down and procured the sparkling gem. With a happy grin the necromancer said, "Here is proof for the society that we have slain a golem, although my word would have undoubtedly been sufficient. If we present this at one of the guild houses, they will reward us well for what we have just done, and while I have little need for the lucre, it will be welcome nonetheless." Trailing off the archmage muttered, "I just wish I could remember what it was I heard about the guardian."

"I, too, wish you could recall that lore, for the more we know the better prepared we will be when we encounter it," said Enki. "But whether you remember or not, still we must face this dark man of which the warning spoke. Let us go and see if this key really unlocks the door below and let us hope that whoever set the wards in this place was overly pessimistic about our fate in the warning which we just heard. Come, let us be about our business."

As the quartet strode down the stairway, the impenetrability of the darkness which swathed the interior of the tower seemed somehow to have lightened although no new light shone through. The mage light which Ordolf carried was now the only source of light for the party, yet it seemed to illuminate the dark space more effectively than had the two with which they had entered.

As they strode once more into the sun, the quartet blinked at the glare. The quick adjustments between light and dark that they were being forced to make were hard on their eyes. They had yet another such shift yet to make. Stepping over to the door hidden in the shadowed sand, Neun Ja inserted the prize that they had won from the tower top into the keyhole which she had discovered earlier. It fit perfectly and the locked disengaged with a soft click. The door slowly sank down into the sand revealing another stairway which dwindled into yet another yawning expanse of stygian darkness. Neun Ja conjured another ball of witch fire and once more led the company into the unknown.